Battle Royal Season 1 Entry
by ClockwerkOrange
Summary: This is my chapter entry for the Battle Royal from Heartofstone15. CWO FTW.


93023:  
/Encryption-Gamma/  
/Priority-Archive/  
/FileGroupName: "Miyuki PB Archive"/  
/FileName: "014"/

Name: Pepper and Mint.  
Species: Irken.  
Physical Features:

a. Pepper: Red eyes. Thin, sickle-shaped antennae. Mildly tall. Lean.  
b. Mint: Green eyes. Thin, curved antennae. Mildly tall. Lean.

Personality:

a. Pepper: Analytical. Sarcastic. Ruthless.  
b. Mint: Free-willed. Energetic. Sunny disposition.

Weapon of Choice:

a. Pepper: Hand-to-hand combat; long range weaponry; melee weaponry.  
b. Mint: Hand-to-hand combat; pilot.

Fighting Style:

a. Pepper: Rapid and agile movements. Unpredictable in hand-to-hand combat; shifts into a calculated frenzy of attacks. Kicks a lot.  
b. Mint: Accurate and sturdy fighting style. Favors martial arts over Pepper's lunging barrages.

Abilities:

Note: Both Pepper and Mint have received physical augmentation injections over the course of their childhood at the Facility. They are slightly stronger and quicker than Irkens of their age and muscle level, and their bones have a tendency to resist breaking. The level of modification to their bodies is not enough to prevent any kind of serious injury.

a. Pepper: Sometimes favors grabbing the back of someone's head, and bringing it roughly down on her knee as she kicks her knee up. She refers to the technique with the following phrase: "Kneeheading someone's head with my knee." It is unknown where she came up with the move.  
b. Mint: Sometimes, if hit, she may burst into tears, hoping that her opponent hesitates. They usually do.

Age:

Between the supposed "rapid-growth gene modifications" they have been augmented with, and the fact that the Facility's records were mostly destroyed, their exact age is unknown. In Earth years, they would be considered around seventeen.

Facility Intelligence:

A3 f 38# ,

34? . !unst

/I AM ERROR/  
/REF CODE 18/  
/REF CODE 29/  
/UNRECOGNIZED USER/  
/CLOSING CONNECTION . . ./

Pepper twisted the doorknob and let herself in.

"I'm home!" Pepper called. She didn't expect Zim or Tak to be there.

"Hi!" Mint called from the couch. "C'mere."

"Hm?" Pepper asked, and threw the house keys unceremoniously on the kitchen table. They skidded on it, and hit the floor. Pepper shrugged. She deactivated her holographic disguise, and then plopped down on the sofa next to Mint, staring at her.

"Quit that," Mint said. "Look at this." She hit the 'play' button on the remote control.

"_Um… greetings, races of the Universe!_"

"What am I watching?" Pepper asked slowly.

Mint shushed her.

"_This is a free line telecommunication._"

"It'd better be," Pepper muttered.

"_The Almighty Tallest of the Irken Empire invite all interested beings to participate in the first ever Battle Royal. Both judging and competing positions are open to join. To submit your name to the competitors' list, simply fill out the form that will appear after this video, and… hey, is this right?_"

"_Just read it!_"

"This isn't very professional," Pepper said flatly.

Mint frowned. "Look, the point is, you've been looking for something like this for a while, right?"

"I suppose," Pepper mumbled.

"Don't get me wrong, Pepper, but I know how violent you are."

"_Suuuure," _Pepper commented. "Why don't we forget the whole thing, and instead read a humorous comic book?"

"That's stupid. Where's the Peppery sense of adventure?" Mint asked.

"Drr," Pepper said.

"What?"

"Drr."

"Stop saying that. What _are_ you saying?"

"Drr."

"Quit it!"

"Oh, you're such a killjoy," Pepper mumbled. She hopped off of the couch. "Right! I've made up my mind. We're doing it. Totally. Battle! Hah! Yes!"

"Are you being sarcastic?" Mint asked, standing up as well.

"I'm always sarcastic," Pepper remarked. "Still. This sounds like fun. A challenge."

"Excellent!" Mint squeaked.

"However, we're going to have to prepare for it," Pepper said. "I'm afraid that Earth life has left you weak, and squishy."

"Pff."

_Later…_

Pepper passed through the gym's door, holding a banana smoothie in one hand, and _yet another_ banana smoothie in her other one. "Mint. C'mere."

Mint walked over and snatched the generic white cup. She sucked on the straw, producing a horrible squishy sucking noise.

"Never do that again," Pepper ordered. "Alright! Since you've been screwing around with the speed bag since I left, what say we compete in a little one-on-one hand-to-hand duel?"

"'K," Mint said, and set her smoothie on the counter, earning a venomous stare from the granite-faced gym employee. Mint smiled obliviously, and marched to the ring. She half-hopped onto it, and then slid stupidly under the ropes.

"There's a little set of stairs, you know," Pepper said while entering the ring with dignity.

After boxing wrappings had been applied, Mint stared blankly at Pepper in a fighting pose. Pepper returned the expression.

"Waaaaaaaah!" Mint yelled, and charged at Pepper.

Pepper sidestepped Mint's unorthodox attack, but Mint dove for her legs. Pepper tried to leap back quickly, but Mint was holding onto her. She hit the mat, and struggled to get up with Mint still clutching her legs. She wiggled a bit.

"Stop it! _Stop it!_" Pepper growled, trying to crawl away.

Mint obediently hopped up, and looked down at Pepper with a smug expression. Pepper stared back up at her.

"Alright. We'll call that one a draw," Pepper said. "This time, it's serious." She leapt up in a deft maneuver, and assumed a fighting stance.

"Ready? Fight!" Mint recited with a giggle.

Pepper let her hands fall to her sides, and ducked down while she went directly at Mint. Mint tensed up, waiting to deflect a blow, but Pepper sidestepped around her, and grabbed her around the stomach.

"Wah!" Mint squeaked. "Lemme go!" She struggled for a bit, but then decided on a different course of action. She twisted slightly, struggled to obtain a slightly firm hold on Pepper's side, and tried to flip her over completely. After being in a stalemate for a few seconds, Pepper fell off of her balance for a few seconds. Mint hopped away, and Pepper recovered quickly. Mint attempted to deliver a swift punch that would have connected with Pepper's shoulder, but Pepper caught it in midair and tried to latch onto her arm. Mint jerked away, and backed up several feet.

"Please, Mint. I haven't even started, yet," Pepper said sweetly.

"Yeah, well," Mint muttered. She dashed straight at Pepper, and leaped into the air in some kind of crazy flying jump kick. Pepper threw her hands out in front of herself, and caught Mint's foot. The force was too much, and Pepper started to fall over. However, she was still holding onto Mint's foot.

"Aah!" Mint squeaked, and fell on the mat, right next to Pepper.

"I feel good about our chances," Pepper muttered.

"Is that sarcasm?"

"I guess we'll find out."

_Later…_

"Where will we be staying?" Pepper asked.

"I dunno," Mint replied.

There was a pause.

"What should we pack?"

"Not sure."

Another pause.

"You did send in our application, right?"

"Of course."

"When will we receive a reply?"

"Dunno."

"Fine."

"So, where's that comic book you wanted to show me?" Mint asked, sprawled out on the sofa out of exhaustion. They had sparred for a little while at the gym after the first 'match', and they had just gotten back to Zim's house.

"How interesting, I'd love to meet her," Pepper said, about to change the subject. "Say, have you seen Zim or Tak? We haven't told them about the event, yet."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll see them soon enough."

Pepper stared blankly ahead, and shifted her position on the couch. "I'm bored," she said absently. "You have the address, right?"

"Address?" Mint asked blankly. "What address?"

"The address that you mailed the application to."

"Oh, yeah," Mint said. "I have it. Why?"

"Let's leave Zimmy and Tackles a cute little letter, and go ahead and leave."

"Why? We don't know if we got in or not," Mint noted.

"Well, I doubt they'll deny us."

"But…"

"Then we can watch the competition," Pepper said slyly.

Mint smiled, and hopped off the couch. "Let's do it!"


End file.
